Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three - Continued)

I have had the privilege of attending and working with thousands of auction dinners throughout North America for over 20 years. Some had several thousand attendees, while others only had fifty or so. The articles that follow are meant to give an overview of how successful auction dinners are conceived, planned and managed.
For anyone who wants a complete "Developing An Auction Dinner" package, complete with working manuals, workbooks, sample forms and PowerPoint presentations, visit my Festival and Event Planning website.

Event Plan Implementation

6. Finance Table
A well organized and staffed finance table will take away the frustration of bid winners trying to pay for the items purchased. Attendees dislike having to stand and wait to pay their money. Organizing the collection of money is an important part of your planning. Make sure you have all the right tools (pens, pencils, calculator, charge card machine, computer, etc.) accumulated before the event starts. It’s best to make a check list prior to the event when there is no confusion and then to check it off at the beginning of the event to make sure you have everything you need.

7. Feature Artist
It’s great to have a featured artist, artisan or donor. They are very important and add a great deal to any event. Don’t make the mistake of not promoting the featured guest to the maximum. Most of the people who become featured guests are asked by many groups to help them out. The fact that the guest has chosen your group to help is an honor and should be treated as such. Not only is it good business to celebrate you guest, it is the right thing to do.

(To be continued)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three - Continued)

I have had the privilege of attending and working with thousands of auction dinners throughout North America for over 20 years. Some had several thousand attendees, while others only had fifty or so. The articles that follow are meant to give an overview of how successful auction dinners are conceived, planned and managed.
For anyone who wants a complete "Developing An Auction Dinner" package, complete with working manuals, workbooks, sample forms and PowerPoint presentations, visit my Festival and Event Planning website.

Event Plan Implementation
3. Handicapped
If you want to be inclusive of all types of attendees, make sure the facility you choose can accommodate people who have handicaps. If you are not sure what is required, your local municipal office will have all the information needed.

4. Prizes
As mentioned previously, high quality auction and raffle prizes are a must. This point can’t be emphasized too often.

5. General Raffle
It’s the same with the general raffle items. Keep them high quality and bunch low value items together in complimentary sets. The other point with the general raffle is to keep it simple, flowing and short. Nothing will turn attendees off more than a long drawn out general raffle pull.

(To be continued)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three - Continued)

I have had the privilege of attending and working with thousands of auction dinners throughout North America for over 20 years. Some had several thousand attendees, while others only had fifty or so. The articles that follow are meant to give an overview of how successful auction dinners are conceived, planned and managed.
For anyone who wants a complete "Developing An Auction Dinner" package, complete with working manuals, workbooks, sample forms and PowerPoint presentations, visit my Festival and Event Planning website.

Event Plan Implementation
2. Facility
Finding the right facility is difficult even in large population centres. Finding the right facility in smaller population centres is nearly impossible. With this in mind here are a few points to consider.

• Including sufficient space for your raffle tables and display areas for your silent and live auction items, how many people will the facility hold at a sit down dinner? The seating capacity determines how many tickets you can sell. The optimum number of attendees is between 200 and 300+. Your gross revenues will increase in relationship to the number of quality attendees.
• Is there sufficient lighting in the prize display areas? If not, you will have to make arrangements to supplement the existing lighting. This is very important if you are to maximize the amount of money people will bid on your prizes.
• Are the facilities clean and well organized? If not, you and your committee many have to pitch in to make the facilities acceptable. Nothing turns attendees off more then a dirty disorganized facility.
• How are the food facilities? Does the venue have on-site cooking facilities? Does the venue provide the food? If they don’t, what local caterer is available? All of these are questions that need to be answered before you finalize a contract with the facility.
• Is the facility easy to reach? Is it in an acceptable part of town? People will not attend your event if they are not comfortable with the facility chosen.
• Is there adequate parking available at or around the facility? If not, what alternative options are feasible? This may not seem like a big deal, but people don’t like to walk a long distance, especially if they formally dress or if the weather is inclement.

All of these points must be consider and answered to your satisfaction. If they can’t be answered satisfactorily, you might consider facilities in neighboring areas. If this is not possible and you still want to proceed with your event, consider all of the challenges and correct them as best as you can.

(To be continued)

Developing An Auction Dinner (Part Three)

I have had the privilege of attending and working with thousands of auction dinners throughout North America for over 20 years. Some had several thousand attendees, while others only had fifty or so. The articles that follow are meant to give an overview of how successful auction dinners are conceived, planned and managed.
For anyone who wants a complete "Developing An Auction Dinner" package, complete with working manuals, workbooks, sample forms and PowerPoint presentations, visit my Festival and Event Planning website.

Event Plan Implementation
1. Event Tickets
It is important to finalize your basic event information as soon as possible. You will need this information for your tickets. Information such as what, where, when need to be included on your ticket. The other item that needs to be included is a ticket number. This should be on the ticket so that you can control the number of tickets sold verse the number not sold. You will need this for your final reconciliation. You can also use the ticket numbers as a control for your silent and live auctions. As long as you have the ticket holders name, you can use the number as a control rather. This is a much easier method than having the winner write out his/her name during the auction.

(To be continued)